It’s been downright balmy in San Francisco this week, sunny and in the seventies. It got me thinking about beaches, coconuts, papayas, and other things tropical. I had been planning on making Vietnamese coffee cupcakes and stumbled upon a recipe for baked coconut rice pudding. I settled quickly on using the rice pudding as a stuffing for a cupcake and went from there.

The end result was quite delicious. I found though that the cupcakes tasty significantly better the second day after all the flavors had time to meld together. The rice pudding is fantastic on its own and the recipe provides for plenty of left overs. In fact each individual component – the pudding, the simple cake, the frosting, the fruit – is great. And even if one thing didn’t quite come out, you’d still have a tasty treat on your hands.

1. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
2. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each.
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl.
5. Measure out milk and lime juice/zest together.
6. Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine.
7. Add about one third the milk/lime juice mixture and beat until combined.
8. Repeat above, alternating flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture.
9. Scoop into cupcake papers about half to three-quarters full (depending on whether you want flat or domed cupcakes).
10. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Tip: It is important that the butter is at room temperature and beat well. Otherwise you might get butter chunks which sort of melt into little pools and make the cupcakes come out funny-looking. Not a huge deal, but I thought I’d mention it.

1. Toast coconut if you haven’t already. Spread on a cookie sheet and place in 350 degree oven for a five or so minutes shaking occasionally until golden brown.
2. Mix the rice with the coconut milk, the milk and the sugar.
3. Grease an oven proof dish. Transfer mixture into the dish, top with chunks of butter, and place in the oven. Be careful, as this is a liquidy mixture and tends to spill.
4. After 30 minutes stir in the coconut and return to the oven.
5. Cook for another 1-1/2 hours, or until almost all the milk is absorbed and a golden skin has formed on top of the pudding.
6. Remove and let cool.

1. Bring cheese and butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours.
2. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl or onto parchment.
3. Beat butter and cheese at medium speed until creamy.
4. Add half of the sugar and the ginger. Beat until combined.
5. Gradually add remaining sugar (more if you have to) until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.

Tip: For this recipe, where fresh fruit is set on top of the cupcake, it is best to use a cup or so more sugar to get a stiffer consistency. I didn’t do that and the fruit slid off somewhat in transit.

fruit garnish

Assemble
1. Using a small pairing knife, cut off the top of the cupcake in the shape of a cone. Flip the top over and cut off the base of the cone.
2. Fill the cavity with a teaspoon or so of rice pudding.
3. Replace top.
4. Frost with the frosting.
5. Arrange slices of thinly sliced tropical fruit, like papaya, mango, and banana.

You win the “Find my flub” contest. The original recipe had two steps involving sugar, one to make a sauce. But when I changed up the recipe to make it a cupcake filling and I skipped the sauce. I decreased the amount of sugar, but didn’t fix the step. Yikes, thanks for finding it.

kookoo kake, the pudding will get pretty solid overnight, that’s expected. I cooked mine until there was no liquid left (per the recipe I used as a basis). If you didn’t find it to me sweet enough, I suggest drizzling sweetened condensed milk over it.

oh my goodness! i think u’re wonderful with cupcakes. how do you do it! u’re inspiring me a lot. :) thanks. and oh yes, if u know of any great carrot cake recipes, pls let me know. i’m wanting to do one for a friend’s bday the coming sat.

Argh. Forgive me. Revisit the recipe, its been fixed. I converted everything from liquid ounces to cups. But wasn’t perfect about it. The rice pudding recipe was heavily adjusted and I have reviewed it again for accuracy. Blah.

Been a fan of yours for ages. Always rush to ur blog to see of u hv created any new magical creations. Why don’t you do a cookbook? Frankly any one of ur recipes here are heads up over the cupcakes recipes i find in cookbooks. Especially here in Singapore. Anyway, keep up the good work.

Ah! Made these for my friend’s 40th this weekend. I decorated them with chopped candied ginger and lime rind curls (what do you call that?) since the trop. fruit wasn’t looking lovely this week. Still very pretty.

Thought they’d go nicely after dinner of Vietnamese at Bodega Bistro here in SF and they were a huge hit. Thank you for the inspiration and generous recipe sharing!

Aloha from Hawaii! Got through this from Chubby Hubby…. and I got fascinated by your beautiful food photography. I have seen yours in flickr and I wanted to let you know that I used and credited your pictures in my blog so please stop by and visit. If you want me to take pictures off, will be gladly to do. I know that I should ask you first and I didn’t think at first. Also, wanted to say that I thank you for sharing your recipes with us! *Thanks*

I got your link from 101 cookbooks and from there to your blog, I did not find this blog all this time. It is a wonderful one.
At the same time I would like to introduce you to my blog : vegetarian mess

these sound wonderful! i was telling my boyfriend about your site, particularly about this cupcake and all the unusual flavors and he had the balls to say, “why don’t you make me some?” he’s actually very sweet.

anywho, i want to try these out this weekend and was wondering if unsweetened coconut would work well for the rice pudding, i have a couple bags at home that i’d like to use. Thanks!

Powdered ginger is fine as a substitute. Just use what you have, add slowly, and keep tasting until you get to something you like.

Sorry, Lauren, I think I missed your question last month. Sometimes I find unsweetened coconut to end tasting savory after toasting. But I think its worth a try in this recipe if you have it handy, maybe add a bit extra sugar to make up for it…